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New Streaming Service AMC+ Launches With the Extremely Violent 'Gangs of London'
October 1, 2020  | By David Hinckley  | 5 comments
 


If you think our government is secretly controlled by a labyrinth known as The Deep State, you ought to see what lies under the surface of international criminal organizations.

Gangs of London, which becomes available Thursday on the new streaming service AMC+, has its protagonists headquartered in the show's title city.

Their web of criminal activity encompasses the globe, and the politics of the illegal drug trade in the Far East, for instance, can have a profound impact on decisions made in the shadow of Westminster Abbey.

Gangs of London itself has a similarly sweeping ambition. Rather than focusing on one group of criminals and their adventure du jour, creators Gareth Evans and Matt Flannery turn the story into an epic.

Not an epic of characters, like The Godfather, but more an epic tsunami of crime.

The 10-episode story revolves around the Wallace family, headed by Finn Wallace (Colm Meaney). He has managed to assemble a criminal conglomerate that seems to have functioned for some years without everyone killing each other, which should give him a lifetime achievement award in that field.

His associates, from all over the globe, seem to accept that staying in their respective lanes is good business for everyone, not least because it attracts so much less attention from the law.

Then something happens that upsets the governing balance and throws previous understandings into question. Finn's son, Sean (Joe Cole, top), must step in and take a greater role, and while Finn has been, by nature, a cautious man, Sean is what across the pond in America might be called a hothead. Also a sociopath, but the hothead part has the most immediate impact.

This soon tests the strongest of the Wallace bonds: the one that ties Finn to the Dumani family. Ed Dumani (Lucian Msamati) is one of Finn's oldest and closest friends, in part because he shares Finn's vision for running things with as low a profile as a multimillion-pound criminal enterprise can maintain.

Sean's impulsiveness threatens that. It also helps turn Gangs of London into the most violent show that has ever aired under an AMC brand.

For a network that previously hosted Breaking Bad, that's an imposing superlative. It is earned. The opening scene alone would give it that distinction, and before the first episode ends, we've seen a strong, continuing dose of the old ultraviolence.

If you're prone to nightmares, Gangs of London probably isn't your show.

Gangs began as a Cinemax project, where it would have been a good fit. But AMC apparently saw it as an excellent way to brand the new AMC+ service as edgier immediately, and it does that.

Because of the story's sheer scope, the first episode takes a while to sort things out. Once we get the Finn Wallace part and meet other characters who include Finn's imposing wife Marian (Michelle Fairley), we start to see where it's going.

We also see that a number of characters won't be with us for the whole ride.

AMC, however, is sticking around. Gangs of London has already been renewed for a second season. Meanwhile, in keeping with streaming strategy, the first three episodes of Season 1 will be available Thursday, with subsequent episodes rolling out weekly from there.

 
 
 
 
 
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